The day after I watched videos of the flooding in Vermont, I wondered if Ted and Marge were okay.

A Google search revealed a few roads were closed in their area, but, apparently, they aren’t completely cut off as hundreds of people are from roads and bridges being washed out in Vermont and New York.  I don’t have their phone number (and they may not even have phone service at the moment), but I’ll write them a letter today and hope it gets through.  I’m sure the postal service is having challenges, too.

For MPD and Friends

With all the disasters this past year, I turned to searches to find if friends and donors were affected.  A lot of the maps I found were online fairly rapidly after the events.   You might try looking first at Google Crisis Response.  A little searching should turn up some useful maps to find where flooding, wildfires, and storm and earthquake damage occurred.

Next, do a search in TntMPD  for  cities or states for the emergency areas and just use the Google map icon in the lower left corner to locate your donors’ homes on a Google Map and then compare the disaster map with your donors’ locations.  After the spring tornadoes, I emailed several families and wrote letters to the rest.  I could’ve tried phoning or texting, of course.

(I also recommend you take an hour or two some afternoon to  map your donor team. I give you all the steps how to do this on Google Maps so you can just open your MPD map whenever you need to.)

Other Ministry Opportunities

• If your team is scattered, having a Google Map might be a good idea in case a crisis occurs so you’ll know where their home is in relation to the disaster.
• If your ministry wants to gather a group together to meet some needs at a disaster, the maps could be helpful.  (Of course, follow any guidelines and cautions before responding.)  For major events, check out Google Crisis Response for loads of helpful links and information on major global disasters.

NOTE: I found these maps in 2011: Vermont flooding, U. S. Mississippi flooding, and U. S. spring tornadoes.